[Congratulations! You leveled up!] [Current Level: Lv3] [75/300 remaining until next level] [Unlocks at Lv5 — +1 Corrupted Calamity contract slot]
The amount of experience gained depended not only on a monster's strength, but also on its identity and attributes. On paper, these Kalleva gangsters were no match for the kobolds in the dungeon, but the experience they actually gave Liao Ji was still decent this early in the game.
A gang of about fifteen had gotten Liao Ji to level up again, with some experience to spare. The only disappointing part was that when he checked his experience records, he found that, as expected, he hadn't received any experience from the boss, Grey Wolf.
Earlier, Liao Ji had deliberately told Irin to stay where she was and not interfere in his fight with Grey Wolf. One reason had been to test this, and the result once again proved that his leveling system followed the underlying logic of Falling.
He couldn't gain experience directly. One of his contracted Corrupted had to take part in a kill for him to receive experience from it. Although the girl had landed a punch square in Grey Wolf's face at the very beginning, the system didn't consider that enough to count as participating in the fight.
Liao Ji remembered that Falling's lore explained this mechanic as follows: experience was essentially a form of Corrupt Calamity contamination.
When Corrupted fought, this contamination steadily accumulated inside them. As the "protagonist," he could draw it out of them through a "Contract" and turn it into his own power.
That explained why he couldn't gain experience by fighting alone. It also explained why, when the Knights Order had examined him and Irin earlier, the girl's Corrupt Calamity contamination levels had been extremely low—even though she was a Corrupted.
"I really need to hurry up and level!" Liao Ji thought as he sat in the van.
He toyed with the business card he'd gotten from Tamik, the young Church knight, and wondered whether he should ask about a few Kalleva hideouts. Then he and Irin could do some good for the people, raid a few gang dens, and leave the settlement.
It wasn't that he didn't care about the pitiful attribute points from leveling. After all, the protagonist's growth rate was even lower than that of the weakest two-star card. All right, he did care. Even a mosquito's leg was still meat.
But more importantly, leveling unlocked and upgraded the protagonist's various powers. That was where the real value lay.
For instance, every five levels, he gained an additional "Contract" slot. And although the system hadn't mentioned it yet, as someone who'd played the game before, Liao Ji knew he would unlock the "Crystallization" ability at Lv7.
As mentioned earlier, the protagonist could absorb the Corrupt Calamity contamination inside Corrupted and convert it into experience. Once he unlocked "Crystallization," he'd have another option: filter, purify, and refine that contamination, then crystallize it.
That was right—those Corrupted upgrade materials Liao Ji had called "dog food," the [Corrupted Crystals], were made this way.
After taking another one from Grey Wolf to use in an experiment, Liao Ji now had only three [Small Corrupted Crystals] left from the stash he'd brought out of the secret room. Ideally, he wanted to save them for his second Corrupted, who should have at least four-star potential. But if an emergency arose and he needed more fighting power, he could always use them all on Irin.
Three small Corrupted Crystals should be enough to take Irin straight to level 30, bringing her strength close to that of a Danger Rank Corrupted. That was the advantage of being a low-star, low-rank unit: it took very few resources to boost their combat power considerably in a short time.
After briefly summing up what he considered his "first battle" since arriving in this world, Liao Ji's thoughts returned to the present, and he gazed out the window.
The group from Haisha Bar was now on its way to another bar owned by one of Brian's friends, with the boss leading the way.
According to the older man, whenever they made it through a "big storm" safely, they had to celebrate properly and drink to their hearts' content. It was a scavenger tradition.
Irin had initially refused, of course. She was in a hurry to go to the clinic and see her mother. But Brian told the girl that he'd sent someone to check on Nolan the day before. The doctor said Irin's mother's condition had stabilized and wasn't getting worse; all that remained was to wait for the surgery. He told her not to worry, and firmly assured her that the celebration wouldn't last long or take up much of her time.
Seeing how insistent Brian was, even Irin seemed to understand what was going on, so she stopped refusing.
Brian had also warmly invited Liao Ji. Unlike Irin, Liao Ji immediately understood what the older man was up to, so he accepted without making him explain further.
That was more or less how they'd ended up in this situation.
The new bar wasn't far. Brian drove his beat-up van there in just a few minutes.
Incidentally, the reason they weren't celebrating at Haisha Bar was that although the rampage was over, Church regulations required the area to be sealed off for safety. No one was allowed near or inside a place that had been contaminated by Corrupt Calamity for a week, so Haisha Bar was under quarantine.
After parking, everyone went into the new bar. Compared to Haisha Bar, it was clearly much smaller, with very few customers. It was also quiet and had a somewhat private feel.
Brian was friends with the owner. After greeting him, he got them a private room. As soon as Liao Ji went inside, the Haisha crowd followed and immediately surrounded the young man, picking up the lively conversation they'd been having in the van.
When Irin went to follow them in, though, Brian stopped her and quietly led the girl back outside.
Liao Ji had expected this, so he only glanced over before turning back to chat with the people from Haisha.
Meanwhile, Irin followed Brian, and the two soon reached another soundproof room next door.
Bang!
Once the door closed and they were truly alone, Brian stared at the girl opposite him. She was leaning against the wall, looking a little guilty and avoiding his eyes.
After a brief silence, Brian spoke in a grave, serious tone:
"Irin, look me in the eye and tell me: are you a Corrupted?"
"Huh? What kind of joke is that, old man? How could I possibly be a Corrupted?"
"Really?" Brian asked again, frowning.
"O-Of course! And, well, you saw the Church's test results earlier, didn't you? My Corrupt Calamity levels are even lower than yours!"
Irin stubbornly refused to give in, and she even brought out the strongest evidence she had. Brian couldn't argue with that.
In the end, the bearded man sighed.
"Irin, you know your father and I were close friends. But I wasn't as lucky as he was—I never found a good woman like Nolan. I'm just an old bachelor. So I've always thought of you as my own daughter, especially after your father passed away."
"W-What are you doing? Why are you suddenly getting sentimental? You're making it sound like we're saying goodbye forever!"
"Isn't that what this is?" Brian asked in return.
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